What caused my starter to engage while driving? Need help on this one!
06-21-2005, 08:01 PM
#1
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What caused my starter to engage while driving? Need help on this one!
While driving home today, I heard this awful chatter from under my car. At first it sopunded like a belt squeal but then I felt a slight pulse on the clutch. Then while stopped at a light, it had hard time holding idle.
I pulled into the next parking lot and turned of the car but the noise (really freaking loud) didn't stop when I turned the car off so I thought something electrical was causing it so I worked the neg cable loose from the battery. The noise had stopped it's own before I could disconnect the cable though.
I noticed a small amount smoke coming from the back of the engine which lead me to the starter. There was smoke coming from it going up the back of the engine.
The car started again whith a slightly sick starter grind sound but the noise was not present so I nursed it home. The noise returned for a few seconds on the way home but stopped quickly.
Now the starter engages but gives that sick Chunk Whirrr sound.
Other than pulling the starter, what do I need to look at with this and has anyone experienced this before?
TIA,
I pulled into the next parking lot and turned of the car but the noise (really freaking loud) didn't stop when I turned the car off so I thought something electrical was causing it so I worked the neg cable loose from the battery. The noise had stopped it's own before I could disconnect the cable though.
I noticed a small amount smoke coming from the back of the engine which lead me to the starter. There was smoke coming from it going up the back of the engine.
The car started again whith a slightly sick starter grind sound but the noise was not present so I nursed it home. The noise returned for a few seconds on the way home but stopped quickly.
Now the starter engages but gives that sick Chunk Whirrr sound.
Other than pulling the starter, what do I need to look at with this and has anyone experienced this before?
TIA,
06-21-2005, 08:34 PM
#2
Nordschleife Master
Sounds like you have a short in your starter circuit and probably need a new starter and possible ring too.
I think I've heard of one other case on this forum, not recently.
I think I've heard of one other case on this forum, not recently.
06-21-2005, 10:16 PM
#5
Burning Brakes
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Don't let this happen to you
In retrospect, it's kind of funny, But I was pretty freaked out when it happened.
It was about 3:26 a.m. one night. I heard what sounded like the garage door slamming. No one else was in the house, so I'm pretty sure a prowler is or was in the house. After a few panicked moments, when I finally had the nerve to open the door to the garage, I could hardly budge it - My instinct was telling me someone was pushing back! Holy S***! I threw the deadbolt, then went out the back and around to the front of the garage. A few minutes of calling out "Who the H*** is in there" and not hearing anything at all, I finally got up the nerve to punch in the code on the keypad and open the door.
I see the 944 about a foot further forward than normal. It had run into and knocked over the set of wheels and tires I had stacked just in front of it. These of course fell against the door to the house, explaining the noise and why I couldn't open the door. OK, this is begining to make sense. I pop the car out of 1st gear and roll it back, and this time I leave it in neutral and set the parking brake (I usually just leave it in 1st).
As I'm stacking the wheels back up, the car starts cranking. I can't do anything to stop it - there's no key in the ignition. It took me a minute or so to grab the wrench and get the negative cable off the battery.
I figured it all out the next day after crawling under the car...
This past winter, I made up a new battery cable to the starter. The end connector on the 2 gauge wire was pretty big, so it was a little tight routing the smaller starter switch lead around it. What didn't occur to me was the sharp edge on the end might wear through the insulation on the smaller wire, and short 12 volts to the switched lead on the solenoid. It did.
It was about 3:26 a.m. one night. I heard what sounded like the garage door slamming. No one else was in the house, so I'm pretty sure a prowler is or was in the house. After a few panicked moments, when I finally had the nerve to open the door to the garage, I could hardly budge it - My instinct was telling me someone was pushing back! Holy S***! I threw the deadbolt, then went out the back and around to the front of the garage. A few minutes of calling out "Who the H*** is in there" and not hearing anything at all, I finally got up the nerve to punch in the code on the keypad and open the door.
I see the 944 about a foot further forward than normal. It had run into and knocked over the set of wheels and tires I had stacked just in front of it. These of course fell against the door to the house, explaining the noise and why I couldn't open the door. OK, this is begining to make sense. I pop the car out of 1st gear and roll it back, and this time I leave it in neutral and set the parking brake (I usually just leave it in 1st).
As I'm stacking the wheels back up, the car starts cranking. I can't do anything to stop it - there's no key in the ignition. It took me a minute or so to grab the wrench and get the negative cable off the battery.
I figured it all out the next day after crawling under the car...
This past winter, I made up a new battery cable to the starter. The end connector on the 2 gauge wire was pretty big, so it was a little tight routing the smaller starter switch lead around it. What didn't occur to me was the sharp edge on the end might wear through the insulation on the smaller wire, and short 12 volts to the switched lead on the solenoid. It did.
06-21-2005, 10:33 PM
#7
Nerd Herder
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What about the cables/ grounds. There was a guy a few years back here whose car went thru his barn due to a faulty cable.
Worth checking out- hth.
Worth checking out- hth.
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06-21-2005, 10:34 PM
#9
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Originally Posted by Chris_924s
What about the cables/ grounds. There was a guy a few years back here whose car went thru his barn due to a faulty cable.
Worth checking out- hth.
Worth checking out- hth.
He posted about that on the turbo board in my cross post thread.
06-21-2005, 10:46 PM
#10
Burning Brakes
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The second connecton on the starter with the small nut (6 or 8 mm) is the lead that gets juice when you turn the key. Feed 12 volts to it and the starter turns.
If you're pretty sure it was just shorting on the other lead on the starter, you should be able to insulate it well, and try to re-route it so it won't make contact. I saw the split in the insulation pretty clearly. Home Depot should have something called friction tape in the electrical section. This stuff is a 1/2" wide black cloth tape that makes a pretty good insulator. I was able to work enough slack to route it around the outside of the solenoid and come in to the connection from the bottom, where the first time it was routed across the big wire connection. I also sanded all the sharp edges off the other wire connector ends.
Luckilly, the only thing my car ran into when this happened was the stack of tires.
If you're pretty sure it was just shorting on the other lead on the starter, you should be able to insulate it well, and try to re-route it so it won't make contact. I saw the split in the insulation pretty clearly. Home Depot should have something called friction tape in the electrical section. This stuff is a 1/2" wide black cloth tape that makes a pretty good insulator. I was able to work enough slack to route it around the outside of the solenoid and come in to the connection from the bottom, where the first time it was routed across the big wire connection. I also sanded all the sharp edges off the other wire connector ends.
Luckilly, the only thing my car ran into when this happened was the stack of tires.
06-21-2005, 10:54 PM
#11
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I just need to determine if anything got damaged. I'm not too worried about the starter, as long as the starter ring on the flywheel is good. I plan to really insulate this well to prevent a recurrency.
06-22-2005, 01:03 AM
#12
Racer
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That was my car that took off in the barn with no ignition key in it. My wife hollered " your Porsche just took off!" Ran to the car, stinky smoke from the back of the motor, car jammed against farm implement, removed battery leads, starter motor was cooked. Replace starter motor at great expense, got a set of nice fat cables from Iceshark, so far so good.
Never did figure out why she took off, never heard of that happening before, when I posted the incident someone said their 944 took off in a parking lot and ran into another car. My mechanic said there must have been a short in the ignition switch, if that was the case why has it not re-occurred?
I have a concealed cut-off switch I use when putting it away for the night if I remember, but I always put it in neutral in the barn.
Mike
Never did figure out why she took off, never heard of that happening before, when I posted the incident someone said their 944 took off in a parking lot and ran into another car. My mechanic said there must have been a short in the ignition switch, if that was the case why has it not re-occurred?
I have a concealed cut-off switch I use when putting it away for the night if I remember, but I always put it in neutral in the barn.
Mike
06-22-2005, 03:17 AM
#15
Race Car
Once I rebuilt and re-installed my motor, I had a similar problem, every time I connected the battery, it would start turning over. I crawled underneath, and when I tightened hte 8mm nut on the solenoid wire, it had twisted, and was touching the positive wire going to the starter. Sounds exactly like your problem.
In all fairness, I believe there is some kind of electrical interlock, that disables the ignition switch from connecting the 'start' contact once it has been engaged once, until the key is returned to the off position.
In all fairness, I believe there is some kind of electrical interlock, that disables the ignition switch from connecting the 'start' contact once it has been engaged once, until the key is returned to the off position.